Asian Dot-Coms Lure Executives
From Old Economy Companies

By

S. Karene Witcher Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated March 14, 2000 12:01 a.m. ET

Philip Leung knows what it's like to be lured away from a sure thing by a siren's song calling him to take a chance. Five years ago he left an established career in Silicon Valley to return to his hometown of Hong Kong for a top job with Compaq Computer Corp. Then last August, he was drawn to an even bigger attraction: driving a dot-com.

The switch wasn't about money, he says, although at closely held Internet start-up ITVentures Ltd. he gets an equity stake. He says it was about riding "the ups and downs" of the...